Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Where is God in this?

Where is God
in this?

It’s the
question I pondered when I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m., trembling
because Irma is on the way. The massive hurricane that has already killed 23
people in the Caribbean is approaching Key West with gush winds up to 82 mph.
Prayers to limit the devastation will be lifted in churches as the damaging
winds and heavy rain moves through Florida.

Where is God
in this?

What sermons
will be preached as the eleven o’clock hour begins worship in most churches? Will
there be mention of what tomorrow represents – 911 – the day the twin towers
came tumbling down in the name of American tyranny?

Will
preachers blame the trinity of storms – Harvey, Irma and Jose – on God, or will
more emphasis be placed on the love and compassion of Jesus as we pray for the
storms to go away. Will Irma be used to promote a political agenda, or will
Americans come together, again, to demonstrate we have more in common than we
think?

Natural disasters
have a way of presenting the fallacies of our theological views. We like to
keep God in a nicely packed box of conceptions constructed to make us feel
better. Faith becomes a roadmap to all things desired, and human struggles are
used to illustrate the consequence of disobedience. Church talk, liturgy and
theology help undergird the message of American privilege.

Isn’t this
the American dream? Blessed are those who abide in God’s will. They will
succeed. They shall be protected by God. God removes from their lives the pain
of destruction. As for the disobedient, their lives will be damaged by a series
of lessons aimed to stir their path. They shall witness death and pain due to
their evil ways.

This is the
message of American privilege. God rewards America for faithful witness. America totes the flag of freedom for the
world to view. America leads the way. This is the bond between American
nationalism and a theology girded by the American dream. Americans believe they
are more honorable than the rest of the world. We embrace the American witness
of faith and privilege for the world to see.

But, where
is God in the storm?

Did God do
this to teach America a lesson? Some will preach that this morning. This is the
discipline of God. This is God’s judgment for electing Donald Trump. This is
those chickens coming home to roost. They will preach this is the zeal of God.
This is a call for national humility after years of institutionalized hypocrisy.

I’m reminded
of the lessons of Thomas Langford, my former professor of Christian Theology at
Duke University. He told me to not craft a theology that made God into Atlas,
the titan in Greek Mythology responsible for bearing the weight of the heavens
on his shoulders. He challenged me to structure
theology that considers the balance between creation and chaos while offering space
for freedom.

This is the
challenge of ministry. It’s work that celebrates the beauty and grace of God’s
good creation, while conceding the ongoing movement of chaos. This is the
balance that defies the simplistic messages of faith. No, not everything is God’s
will. All death is not ordered by God to teach a lesson. Some people die for
reasons other than disobedience. They simply find themselves caught in the
midst of the force of chaos.

It is not
God’s will when a child dies by shots fired from a speeding car. Where is the
grace in uttering the 23, mostly black and brown people, dead due to hurricane
Irma is God’s lesson regarding American sin? Why would they die for what Americans
do wrong?

Where is God
in the storm?

The honest
answer is I don’t know. Maybe there is no answer to the question. Maybe it’s
not the time to ask.

I do know
where God is within the devastation. It’s the place where God has always been.
God remains there to teach lessons about faith, love, compassion and peace. God
is with us in the damage to remind us we are not alone.

“God does
not become a religion, so that man participates in him by corresponding
religious thoughts and feelings. God does not become a law, so that man
participates in him through obedience to a law,” Jurgen Moltmann, said in his
book The Crucified God. “God does not become an ideal, so that man
achieves community with him through constant striving. He humbles himself and
takes upon himself the eternal death of the godless and the godforsaken, so
that all the godless and the godforsaken can experience communion with him.”

I may not
know where God is in the storm, but I do know where God is when the storm
appears. God is with us, enduring the madness of the storm, to remind us we are
not alone.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina